Izzy here. I was invited a couple nights ago to a house party here in Albuquerque, New Mexico where we...tasted Israeli wine and chocolate!

Joshua and Caleb Waller with HaYovel.com were also talking about their work taking literally thousands of volunteers to stand with the Jewish community in the 'West Bank' - i.e. Judea and Samaria - doing volunteer farmwork in the vineyards and orchards.

I interviewed Caleb on Periscope afterwards. Watch it here! And check out the work of HaYovel for yourself here.

Jonathan's Story

Jonathan is following Yeshua in a Hebrew way! Here's his story.

Shalom, I’m Jonathan. I have been a part of the Holy Language tribe since 2013. Recently I became a volunteer to help serve and give back. I'm going to be creating pictures and short videos with the Hebrew words for things from the world around me, and sharing them with you through our social media posts. In fact, we just uploaded my first video to the Holy Language YouTube channel, and you can watch it here!

I’m sure as you join me on this journey you'll also get to meet my wife, daughter, family, and friends. Maybe hike some trails, go backpacking, hang out in a hammock, and enjoy some tasty treats in the kitchen. We are going to be following Yeshua in a Hebrew way. I’ll keep Yeshua in the lead position and go with the very simple words that have so much depth, words that He said to me in the beginning - "Follow Me". Which brings me to my story!

My testimony began when Jesus/Yeshua met me in a hospital bed after being admitted for cardiac arrest and severe pancreatitis. The doctors said people with this severe of a problem usually had to seek continual treatment or have surgery. Neither seemed appealing to me.

At that time in my life, I had already sought many different paths in this world. I grew up hearing of Jesus and just thought that people that followed him or went to church had a small understanding of how big this universe really is. Yet, all the choices I had made lead me to this place.

It was about two in the morning as I laid in the hospital bed that there was a knock on my door and a man entered the room. He asked if he could pray with me. I didn’t know him, but I was in desperate need of direction, help, and healing. The man prayed with me and after he left, I surrendered my will and life over to Jesus in a personal prayer.

As I surrendered Jesus/ Yeshua showed up to me in a vision. I remember there being a bright light and him saying “follow me”. I just said “Ok” and cried. We didn’t need to speak much because everything was just understood. I had surrendered to him.

That night I was completely healed from pancreatitis. The doctors were skeptical and kept me a few days for monitoring, but I knew Jesus/Yeshua had healed me. To this day, I have not had any additional treatments.

At that moment I knew Yeshua as Jesus and that’s ok. He told me to follow him and through doing so he has revealed so much more to me, such as his true name.
Upon telling my parents of my experience, they were completely thrilled. It had been a long, hard journey for us with the choices I made so this was definitely an answer to their prayers.

After leaving the hospital, they brought me back to my house where I have been a single father for several years. As I sat down with my daughter and told her of my experience, I was uncertain of what was going to happen, but knew that things had to change. Looking back I had no idea how much change we really needed, but it has all been for the better.

My daughter was and has always been so understanding. She was willing to walk this journey with me. In doing so she too has come to know Jesus/ Yeshua, which is a true blessing.

Jesus/Yeshua said to “follow Him” which is great, I thought, but how do I do that? This was the question that started my prayer journey with him. Since I knew he could speak with me, I kept talking out to him, explaining all my thoughts, and listening to what he had to say. He wasn’t audible but a few times. He spoke more to my soul like opening up my thoughts to his understanding and giving me answers to my questions. He didn’t always answer right away. There were times I threw fits with my arms shaking in the air in frustration, but He didn’t smite me. He patiently taught me how to listen to him. He also taught me how to hear from him by reading his already spoken Word (Scripture).

It was like why should He have to repeat Himself over and over again, He has already given us His Word. So, I fell in love with Scripture.

In reading His word and listening to His voice, He has taken me to many places. I’ve met Him on mountain tops, seen His spirit move through a church, guided me on my journey to meet my wife, lead me to messianic congregations, taught me His name is Yeshua, took me on a trip to Israel, and continues to teach me Hebrew.

His name Yeshua completely blew me away that it literally means Salvation. This was introduced to me at a messianic fellowship. That night I just couldn’t get enough of this deeper, richer understanding of His culture and meaning in the original language of Hebrew. I already had several scripture texts that I had found differences in the translations. I was inspired to start my quest in learning Hebrew and eventually being able to read and interpret Hebrew for myself.

When starting a project I generally dive right in. I started “Googling” through the internet and came across several places trying many free offers, but the one that stuck for me was Holy Language.com. It was Yeshua centered which was important. I grew tired of other programs that didn’t keep Yeshua as the focus as He will always be my true love and the reason for even learning the language.

I started Holy Language in the fall of 2013 and since then went through Hebrew Quest, most if not all of Hebrew Chapters and have been enjoying Derek, Elihana, and Yisrael through each of their teachings. I’ve replayed almost everything that is in the Holy Language archive. If you have ever taken a look at the archive, that’s a big accomplishment. The archives can be played over and over again so I really enjoy that as Yahweh’s word never grows old.

Hebrew has now become more involved in other aspects of my life as I am incorporating the Hebrew words for everything that is around me. This world was spoken into being in the Hebrew language. Since I want to know every detail about God as He knows every detail about us, I want to learn this world through His eyes and the language He spoke it in.

As we kick off 2016, it’s a great time to join me and the Holy Language tribe to follow Yeshua in a Hebrew way. Each week I’m making videos that help incorporate new Hebrew words in an easy to learn way. But that’s not all, if you can’t read Hebrew or need a refresher course, check out the 40 lessons of Hebrew Quest that will take you through the Aleph Bet and into reading Scripture. Among the continual live classes, we also have an archive that is turning into the Netflix of learning Hebrew. Make sure you sign up for our weekly email and join us on social media.

You'll see me through my pics and videos on the Holy Language social media, and you can also connect with me personally on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube - just search Jonathan Lovelace and stop in and say “Shalom"! I look forward to meeting you, and let’s fill our hunger in learning Hebrew with Holy Language Institute!

Much Love <3 <3 <3
Jonathan

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meme of the week

Hats off to me for this meme! Make your own Hebrew meme here or here and send it to meme@holylanguage.com and we'll share yours too.

Shavua tov - have a good week!

Izzy Avraham
Executive Director

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